“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 949 (Saturday) – once upon a day

Conjugating verbs.

It was up at 6:00 and out the door at 7:37 for Finnish breakfast at Saima Park in Fitchburg. The intent was to leave by 7:30 to allow for an unhurried stop at the ATM on the way, but I was busy conjugating Finnish verbs for my homework and got a late start. Once at the breakfast, it was a full house with hardly a seat available. 

After breakfast, a few of us headed to my sister’s house for a small birthday gathering for Mom, whose birthday is on Sunday. After a couple hours of conversation and some strawberry shortcake, we peeled off in separate directions. My direction was an appointment for a dental cleaning because it has been two days since my last dental appointment and I kind of missed the place. There was a detour to Mummu's grave for a quick visit and weed pulling on the way, because I haven't stopped by for a while.

The dentist’s office had a very different vibe from Thursday. I was the only person in the waiting room and the TV was a blank rectangle on the wall. It’s the first time in all my years going there that there wasn’t some sort of home decorating or property search/flip show blaring. There was only one person behind the counter that had three or four people working on Thursday. My hygienist and one dentist were the only others in the office at 1:00 and I wondered what they had done to deserve the punishment.

Then it was exciting errands including gas and a car wash with vacuum in Fitchburg. There was a grocery run once back in Lowell, after a journey of epic proportions thanks to a massive traffic jam on 495. It took forever to navigate the ramp onto 495 N and then we crawled like pond scum, hitting top speeds of three or five mph. There were five vehicles in the median further up the road. 

For some weird and inexplicable reason, grocery shopping seems to be my new default hobby. In the past week I have excelled at it, visiting two different Market Basket stores and a Hannaford.

Back at home, the weekly chicken was carved and the bones set to simmer for broth. Supper was a compilation of earlier kitchen efforts – the sweet potato, apple, and sausage baked dish, rice pilaf with broccoli and brussels sprouts, supplemented with newly purchased Greek stuffed grape leaves and still-warm roasted chicken.

Winston was a happy guy when I returned home, and was ready for his supper, which he devoured with gusto. It’s significantly less stressful when he eats. And if buying a store roasted chicken each week is the answer to him eating his fancy medicine food, it’s worth the trips to the grocery store.

Broken. Oct 22, 2011.
Exact words were "F*%k."

For all the activity of the day, present day October 22 was relatively tame compared to some of the October 22s of the past. In 2016, it was my niece's ball hockey tournament and 2013 was a David Sedaris show in Worcester. In 2008, I was packing for a trip to Vegas, barely a month after a trip to Santa Monica. The most dramatic was clearly October 22, 2011with the roller derby bout and trifecta of first broken bone, first surgery, and first hospital stay. 

Conjugating verbs and grocery shopping, even at their roughest, sure are tame compared to a busted leg and the bonus accoutrements that came with it, and that's not a bad thing at all.